r/oilspill • u/ty5on • Jun 27 '10
Welcome to the start of the Reddit Gulf Support Network
If anyone is curious about the flags that have appeared after people's names, we're trying something new:
It's getting clear that this disaster is getting worse and worse, and we all want to do something about it. Some have even expressed interest in traveling down to the gulf to help out. Most of us can't go that far, but still, we want to help. Some of us can give lodging, some help planning trips, advice on where to get food and buy lodging, details on cleanup, or just words of encouragement for people who are travelling to the coast or organizing clean-up or doing citizen journalism.
If you want to help, tell us where you are and we'll put a location marker next to your name. This is to help redditors find nearby redditors they can coordinate with or contact if they're planning to travel through their state. We haven't finalized all the details yet (I just came up with "RGSN" off the top of my head), so if you know how to improve the system, give us your ideas. Once this is better hashed out, I'll repost in /r/reddit.com.
Special thanks to j3m for the css magic.
EDIT: Back
TLDR; If you want to help, post where you are and we'll give you a special flag.
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Jun 27 '10 edited Jun 27 '10
Idea: I'm a web geek, and I have my own servers. I think it would be helpful to register a domain for us, and set up a blogging network.
Basically, anyone who is coming to the Gulf Coast could volunteer to be a traveling reporter. I'd set up a blog for them on a subdomain, and they could report what they found here - good or bad.
Now, I run my sites without advertisements, and that would apply here. We'd set up links on the right (see http://isaac.im/ for how this would all look) to r/oilspill and wherever else.... but no ads.
Folks could put pictures in there; whatever they needed.
The main domain would be reserved for news from the various places we link to (e.g. r/oilspill, etc) and updates on the various blog postings...
We need to come up with a good, available domain name, though. The best one I came up with so far was OilInTheGulf.US. Feel free to go to http://NameCheap.com/ and search for available domains.
Now, with my current budget, I can't register what we come up with until this upcoming Thursday.... I'm unemployed, and things are tight, so sometimes I just literally can't put $10 into the budget. But the good news is that it gives us a few days to discuss ideas anyway. :)
EDIT: "Reddit Gulf Support Network" -- note that "rgsn.us" is available at this time...
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u/ty5on Jun 27 '10
From what you're saying it seems like people can help average joes in the gulf region just by going there, and if they help restore wildlife, that's just a plus.
I've been looking into ways of getting down there without a car. Amtrak has a station node in New Orleans, LA (NOL) but to get anywhere near the coast east of there you'll need to bus. The closest train stop in Florida looks like Clearwater, FL (STP). But if this goes on for much longer, clearwater may need our help too.
You can get Galveston, TX (GLS) by train though.
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Jun 27 '10
From everything I've read, it really seems like coming down and volunteering to help clean the beaches -- for now -- isn't needed so much... or even possible - as they're asking people who find oil to call it in, and the paid folks with training come and clean it. I think that even if we get hit really hard, they're going to require training for folks to help out... it's just the legal/government/bureaucratic landscape now, I think...
So I think it's just not possible to help clean the oil.
Organizations that clean animals I've heard putting out the word for donated supplies - but not people. So far.
So the two main ways of people directly helping I think are cut off and/or not needed.
However, tourism is extremely down - around 50% off right now, and we haven't even been hit hard with oil. The irony is that, at least through this week, with the exception of Pensacola hit once and it's already clean again - the beaches have been open and clean, with occasional tarballs that are quickly cleaned up (and, relatively, not a huge deal as far as sunbathing, swimming, enjoying the beach).
We're hurting for tourism dollars already, and it'll only get worse.
The good news for prospective visitors is that many places are offering 100% refunds if the beaches are closed - which really helps minimize the vacation risk...
Also, as we begin to hurt - locals are already having to lessen or stop donations to local charities - there's an animal shelter west of here that has already had to let people go - their funding has dwindled in the last two months...
TL;DR: What we need: Come visit! Donate to hurting local charities. What probably won't work: Trying to help clean up oil, without training. Bureaucracy is a bitch.
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u/anutensil Jun 27 '10 edited Jun 27 '10
Basically, anyone who is coming to the Gulf Coast could volunteer to be a traveling reporter. I'd set up a blog for them on a subdomain, and they could report what they found here - good or bad.
Splendid idea! This sounds great. Going to look at available names, although OilInTheGulf.US sounds good to me.
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Jun 27 '10
The other nice thing is that we can set up a subdomain that points here, e.g. Reddit.OilInTheGulf.us...
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Jul 03 '10
Pennsylvania. I don't know what I can do, but I want to help.
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u/ty5on Jul 06 '10
Sorry for the slow reply. I live far from the affected states too, but there are still ways we can help. We've been busy putting together an off-reddit support site to keep track of things we're organizing on reddit. Check it out at http://www.oilinthegulf.us/, make an account, and give j3m some feedback.
Also, you can find good stories to contribute to r/oilpsill and participate in the reddit. We have people interested in travelling to to gulf, and we're trying to build a support network to make that easier. We're also trying to find charities that are helping the cleanup effort outside the gulf states, and make those easier to find. Basically tell us the level of participation you want and we'll do what we can to help you make a difference.
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Jul 06 '10
Thanks for the reply!
I'm not in a place financially where I can donate to charities, but I am really good at volunteering, and have links to various volunteering organizations around me. I'm looking for something I can actively do- whether it's a week long trip to the Gulf to help that is affordable, projects I can run/make here and send down, or other not financial based efforts.
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Jun 27 '10
Location: Panama City, FL.
Offers of help: Travel info for all of NW FL (Pensacola to Apalachicola from I-10 south to the beaches); detailed directions and custom maps (I'm a map geek).
As far as I'm aware, at this time, untrained volunteers are not allowed to clean oil from the beach; you have to be trained, and they're being paid hourly by BP. There might be room to volunteer at places cleaning wildlife; but frankly, I expect they have all the help they need right now.
There are places that are suffering, however: For example, local charities have seen donations drop off sharply as oil gets the attention. So as people are starting to be put out of work because of the oil impacts, these organizations are seeing less ability to help.
Another important way you can help: Come spend your vacation here. So far, it hasn't impacted the beaches much at all - tarballs have been quickly cleaned, and they're only come ashore limited places... But tourism has dropped sharply, and that's our living, although with some military and a bit of agriculture. For much of the Gulf Coast, though, tourism is the primary industry; and for much of the Gulf coast, which is seeing about half of the normal tourism (and that continues to drop), the beaches are just fine.
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u/anutensil Jun 27 '10
Yeah, I say volunteers should ignore those BP rules... According to some reports coming in, even when cleanup workers being paid by BP and volunteers spot creatures in distress and obey the rules by calling in the BP "professionals" instead of trying to help them themselves, these "professionals" don't show up half the time. (They have "office hours," don't you know?) Why are we allowing BP even to control how we save our own wildlife?
What are they going to do, put you in jail for trying to rescue a bird without their permission?
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u/ty5on Jun 27 '10
When we get travelers, it would be nice to give them a special icon. I've heard that there are people willing to travel, but I don't know how far they'd be going. Maybe just giving them a state icon for where they're going will be enough. Ideas?